Justice League #49 Review: The Darkseid War Part 9

As “The Darkseid War” finally begins to draw to a conclusion, Justice League #49 tries to bring too many plot elements to the fore in what becomes a bit of a muddled mess.

Justice League #49
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Jason Fabok
Colored by Brad Anderson
Published by DC Comics

Last time In Justice League: With the Crime Syndicate awaiting the birth of Superwoman’s baby and Grail off creating a weapon out of Steve Trevor to use against Mobius, the Justice League can only watch ans wait as the world ends.

When is “The Darkseid War” finally going to be over?

That was my initial thought after I finished Justice League #49, Part Nine of this epic storyline, although that is a bit deceiving. If you include all the various one-shots, this is actually the sixteenth chapter of “The Darkseid War”.

That, my friend, is a lot of comics.

So maybe I’m just suffering from a bit of Darkseid fatigue or I’m just ready for the big payoff, but for me Justice League #49 was a bit of a letdown.

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Sure, lots of big things happen such as the birth (finally!) of Superwoman’s baby, the return of Grail, her mother and whatever Steve Trevor has become in addition to learning the final fate of Mobius. It’s a jam-packed issue that has me waiting with baited breath for the big finale in Justice League #50.

So why didn’t I enjoy it more?

Maybe it’s because the storyline has kind of meandered a bit over the last few issues, losing some of the razor sharp focus it had in earlier chapters. Early on, we watched as Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor went to war with the questions being what role would Grail play in the final outcome and if the Earth would survive.

Then Darkseid was killed and it suddenly became about what happens when a hero becomes a god. The it seemed like Mobius became the focus as the League made a deal with the Crime Syndicate to take him down. And now it circles back to Grail as she return to the story as it enters its final phase.

And then there is Superwoman’s baby and whatever role he may play, whatever is going on with Steve Trevor and of course the promise of big events in issue #50 that will have serious ramifications for Batman going forward.

Like I said, meandering.

However, if any writer can pull it together and make it all make sense at the end of the day it’s Geoff Johns. With this story apparently having huge implications for Rebirth, I have complete faith that he can tie everything together and make the conclusion of “The Darkseid War” one for the ages.

And even if I wasn’t exactly enamored with the story, the art of Jason Fabok is always more than enough to make buying Justice League worth it. My word can that man draw!

The Bottom Line: While Justice League #49 will never be my favorite chapter of “The Darkseid War” and it’s past time to wrap things up, it is still an entertaining read that does a good enough job of setting up the grand finale in issue #50.

The plot may have lost a bit of its focus, but it’s a safe bet that once we get to read the whole thing in one sitting, without the delays in between issues, “The Darkseid War” as a whole will more than make up for a few weak individual chapters.

Next month, at long last the conclusion.

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